gitaneusa.com :: View topic - Touch-up tips....

verktyg

I've mentioned this before but here's some pictures to show the effects. This is my late 60s TdF. It was a barn bike when I got it, covered with at least 20 years of dust and dirt. There were a lot of chips and scratches in the paint.

If this were a 57cm frame it would have been repainted Gitane pumpkin orange or gold by now. Since it's a 54cm, I decided to clean it up just touch-up the paint a little and ride it like it is. I used some touch-up lacquer that I bought at an auto parts store.

Here's a scratch on the left chainstay that I somehow missed on the first round:

After touching it up:

From 3 feet away:

The idea is to camouflage the damage not try to do a perfect repaint job. Certain colors like white and black are the easiest to touch-up. Too little is better than too much. At 3 feet you shouldn't be able to see the new paint.

Testors sells small bottles of enamel at hobby shops in the US. You can mix colors to get a close approximation of the original color.

Good luck,

Chas.

scozim

Oh, if only the original owner of my TdF had done that good a job. Crying or Very sad

Scott

verktyg · Last edited by verktyg on Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:15 am; edited 1 time in total

It's too bad that someone got carried away. This is the kind of worst case scenarios I hinted at. It looks like the perp may have used nail polish. Crying or Very sad

You might try some nail polish remover or acetone on a q-tip to try to gently remove some of the excess.

Chas.

grumpyphil

This is a subject dear to me black lil heart...especially as I'm about to delve into it on my new old Record. I've never done any form of serious touchup work on a bike or even a car so I know damn near nothing. However, I'm pretty handy with an airbrush and I have 3 or 4 of them. I've never run any oil based paints through any of them, so that's a bit intimidating as well. I'm thinking the way to do this is kinda along the lines of photo retouch...as Charles said, more like camo than getting an exact match. I'm also thinking that some kind of rubbing compound treatment will sort of "diffuse" the paint and blend it in.
Love to hear any ideas.
Thanks,
Grumpy

verktyg

Grumpy,

What I've done is to more or less fill in the paint chips using a fine tipped camel hair or similar paint brush. It sometimes takes 2 or 3 thin coats on bigger chips. After several weeks I polish the touch-ups with rubbing compound.

Chas.

cooltech

I think you have a nice bike. The decal seems to be in nice condition.
cooltech Cool